Quick and easy way to add memory to your Chromebook

I've been using a Chromebook since getting a CR-48 from Google a few years ago, and I love it. I am currently using a Samsung Chromebook, and our district is deploying over 5000 of them.

The Chromebooks, and Chrome OS in general, are fast and work great, but every once in a while they can bog down when doing serious multitasking. Many only have 2GB of RAM and do not offer the ability to add more RAM physically. I found out about a great way to increase your memory by using zRam which uses swap space on your hard disk/SSD. Kevin C. Tofel shared this great resource that is very easy to do.

Here are the simple steps:

1. Open up a terminal tab with the CTRL + ALT + T keys.
2. Type “swap enable” (without the quotes).
3. Restart your Chromebook.

It's that easy. I did it and my Chromebook runs much smoother and faster and rarely bogs down, even with 15+ tabs open. 

Disabling it is easy too. Do all of the steps but type "disable" instead of "enable".

Give it a try and see how it improves your Chromebook's performance. 

Related:

Chromebooks in Education: http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/new-chromebook-chromebox-and-updated.html

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Collection of free training resources for Windows, Office, Google Apps, and more

I was putting together a list of free training resources and decided to share it with everyone. If you have some good ones, please share them in the comments.

Free Training Resources

Windows and Office

http://etc.usf.edu/techease/win/ - great help with Windows and Windows applications

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training-FX101782702.aspx - free help and training from Microsoft on their products. Scroll to bottom for older versions. 

http://www.microsoft.com/education/en-us/teachers/guides/Pages/index.aspx - lots of great resources and tips for teachers. 

Google Apps for Education

Great resources on learning Google Apps and using Google Apps in the classroom.

http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/training.html

http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/educator-resources.html

http://edutraining.googleapps.com/Training-Home

http://its.leesummit.k12.mo.us/google.htm

https://sites.google.com/a/googleapps.com/k12-guide-to-going-google/pd

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2011/04/google-for-educators-resources-for.html

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/p/google-for-educators_22.html

Chromebooks (see Google Apps also)

http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/training.html

http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/chromebooks.html

Misc. EdTech Resources

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2012/06/10-technology-skills-every-educator.html - list of tech skills for educators and resources to learn them.

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com 

http://www.mobilenations.com/ - Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Phone/Mobile, and webOS resources, help, tips, and more.

http://web2012.discoveryeducation.com/ - Great resource from Discovery Education on educational technology.

http://h30411.www3.hp.com/Welcome HP Teacher Experience Exchange - tips, lesson plans, tech help, and more. 

http://www.180techtips.com/ one tech tip for each school day each year.

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/ great tips on all kinds of technology

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InstallFree Nexus & Rndr shutting down - any know of alternatives?

InstallFree Nexus and Rndr were two free applications that I found very useful. Unfortunately, they are shutting down on November 15th (tomorrow). 

InstallFree Nexus allowed you to use Microsoft Office or LibreOffice on an iPad, Android Tablet or Chromebook and access your files from a variety of cloud services to edit. 

Rndr enabled any browser to render plugins like Java that may not be compatible with the device. This is very useful for Google Chromebooks, since many educational sites use Java. 

I have not found an alternative for them yet. I'm really hoping for one for Rndr, as it made Java sites accessible on Chromebooks. 

Below is the notice from InstallFree:

November 9th, 2012

To our dedicated customers,

Seven months ago, we launched our InstallFree Nexus and Rndr platforms -- the first services of their kind that enabled users to work with full-featured Windows applications, and access their cloud-stored files, from any device with a web browser.

Unfortunately, we have not been successful in turning these services into a sustainable business for our company and must therefore reconsider our strategy. While this process is going on, we must make the painful decision to shut down these services.
The InstallFree Nexus and Rndr services will shut down on Thursday, November 15th, 2012.

I would like to thank the tens-of-thousands of customers currently using our Nexus and Rndr services. If you are currently subscribed to one of our InstallFree Nexus Premium plans, your subscription fees will be refunded.

We have also prepared a FAQ that you should review at www.installfree.com/faq. 

For any questions, please contact us at contact@installfree.com.

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Google now has one click access to Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Google just announced this week a nice addition to Google Drive - the ability to immediately start a new document. Instead of having to go into Drive and then click on New___, you can install Docs (documents), Sheets (spreadsheets) and Slides (presentations) as apps from the Chrome Web Store and use them to immediately start a new file. The shortcuts appear as apps on the new tab page in Chrome. Docs, Sheets, and Slides will appear in your apps list on a Chromebook by default. They will be automatically added to Chromebooks in the next Chrome OS update.

This will make it even easier and faster to create new docs files using Chrome Browser or Chrome OS.

Related:

Google for Education Resources (lots of great resources for students and educators)

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My Favorite and Most Used Tech, Apps and Extensions

Every year people ask me what my favorite tech tools, apps, and other resources are and what I use on a daily basis. Every year, this changes a little bit. I just had someone ask me for a list of what I use the most and what my favorite Ed Tech resources are, so here you go. There are also some other great resources in the "Related" links at the end of the article.

Evernote - Evernote, an electronic notebook with lots of great features, is my main tool. I have lesson plans, lesson notes, lesson resources, research, travel info, recipes, lesson schedule, meeting notes, attached files, clippings from web sites, to do lists, personal references, tech resources and instructions and so much more. It is the main app I use for almost everything. This year I am using Evernote with my students.

Dropbox - Dropbox is a great file sync, backup, and sharing service that you can use for free. The rest of the files I need to use that are not in Evernote or Google Drive are setup in my Dropbox so that they are synced on my home and school computers and my smartphone. I can access my files from any web browser also. I never have to worry about losing a flash drive or forgetting to copy or email myself a file.



Google - I know this is kind of vague because Google has so many services, but I use a lot of them. Blogger for this blog and my class blogs, Sites for my class website, Gmail, Google+, Calendar, Google Drive and Docs, search and so much more. Here's more on Why I use Google Products as an Educator.

Here are lots of great Google for Education resources and tips.





Google Chrome is my browser of choice. It's fast, secure, easy to use, has great extensions and bookmarklets, and just works great. I have it automatically open up my most used tabs: Gmail, Google Calendar, PowerTeacher, Blogger, Tweetdeck, Edmodo and Evernote. I also have bookmarklets for saving pages into my Google Bookmarks, accessing school systems, and much more.

Extensions:

Evernote Clipper - clip web pages and articles into my Evernote notebooks for reference or sharing with students. 

Goo.gl URL Shortener - shorten web page URL's for better sharing and tracking of sharing.

Webpage Screenshot - take screenshots of web pages, edit and format them, and save them.

Evernote Clearly - clean up a web page for easier reading and clipping.

Shorcuts for Google - one click link to all of Google's different apps and services. 

Aviary's clipping extension for Chrome to clip graphics from the internet and edit or modify them for both my edtech blog and lesson plans and resources.

I use Tweetdeck in Chrome browser to access my PLN on Twitter. It is easy to use and has great features like multiple columns and scheduling of tweets.


 

Edmodo is a free, learning management system that is full featured and easy to use. I'm using it for the first time this year with my students to share resources, have online discussions, post assignments, and offer online help. Here's more about my adventure with Edmodo. 

PowerSchool and Power Teacher - our district uses PowerSchool for attendance, gradebook, and other student information. Students and parents can access it and see their grades and attendance any time they want. It is accessable from any web enabled computer and you can generate multiple reports and export the data if needed.



Discovery Education Resources - these resources allow teachers to find lesson resources and even create lesson resources and provide engaging materials to use with students. I also use the Streaming Plus multimedia resource and the Science Techbook.





Android Smartphone - with my Android Smartphone, I can access all of my materials and resources, all of the apps and resources listed above and even control my computer with SplasthTop Remote. Android works great with all of the Google resources I use, and the Evernote app for it is awesome. 

Hardware - I have a teacher station computer in my classroom, along with 8 student desktop computers. I have a networked printer and a multi-function color inkjet printer. I also have an LCD projector connected to my computer, and a VCR and DVD player connected to the projector. I also use a Keyspan remote to wirelessly control my computer from anywhere in the room. Auxillary speakers are also a must. I also now use SplashTop Remote on my smartphone or HP TouchPad to control and access my computer from anywhere in the room.

Student Resources - students use the computers and their smartphones to access the internet for research, do virtual labs and investigations on PhET (great resource for math and science), get help on my site, get help on PhysicsClassroom, access software and services to explore and create and do their work using Blogger, Sites, Glogster, Google Docs, Evernote and Edmodo and more.



What are your favorite resources and apps? What do you use on a daily basis?

Related:

10 Essential Educational Resources for Teachers - my list

Essential Apps and Installs for Windows, Chrome, Android

The How's, Why's and Value of Educational Technology

Helping Educators Get Started with Educational Technology

Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and more

Unfettered by Stuff - or "Why I don't lug stuff home every night"

Google Docs and Evernote - when and how I use each one

Android Smartphone and Apps I use as an Educator

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Attachment Viewer for Gmail - view & edit docs and more in Gmail

I use InstallFree Nexus and Rndr on my Chromebook and in Chrome to LibreOffice and Java on any device, including my Chromebook.

They have another great extension for Chrome, Attachment Viewer for Gmail, which lets you view, edit, save and share attachments in Gmail. You can work with Office and other document formats directly from Gmail, on any device running Chrome, including Chromebooks, Chromeboxes, Linux, Mac and PCs. This means you can work on them directly in your browser without any installs or downloads on your device.

This is a great resource for Chromebooks and shared computers and is very useful in educational settings where you don't want files downloaded or shared computers are being used.

Get it in the Google Chrome Web Store or go to InstallFree's website for more information.

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Interesting idea - Chromebook + Nexus 7 instead of just an iPad

At EdcampCT this past week, I was chatting with Greg McVerry (@jgmac1106) about devices, 1-1 and BYOD and he made an interesting comment. Instead of a school purchasing an iPad and keyboard for all the students, what about a Chromebook and Nexus 7 for each student?

I like this idea for a lot of reasons. An iPad starts at $500 and then add the case for $50 and keyboard for around $50 and you are at $600 for one device. Then add in any apps that are not free. A Chromebook starts at $300 and the Nexus 7 starts at $200. Add in a case for the Nexus 7 at $20 and you get two devices for just over $500. That's a great deal.

Account management is very easy with the Chromebooks and Nexus 7 using Google accounts for each student. Google Apps for Education would also be a great way to utilize these devices and provide excellent resources for the students and faculty and staff.

I would have the Chromebooks stay at school. Less for students to carry, less risk of damage or theft. Their data and files are all online so they can still access them anywhere. The Nexus 7 tablets could go home with the students. They are small, light, easy to use, and can be used at home for assignments, research, communications, and more. By having the two devices, students have backup. If they forget the Nexus 7 at home, it doesn't matter because they have the Chromebook at school.

One of the big concerns I have for 1-1 programs is that if students have one device, what happens when they lose it, have it damaged or stolen, or forget it somewhere?

Google apps and these two devices also making it easy, and very inexpensive, to do all the things students need to do. There is minimal support needed for the Nexus 7 from school staff and practically no support needed for the Chromebooks.

I'm a big fan of this idea and will be sharing it with my district.

What do you think?


Related:

New Chromebooks and Chrome OS - great for education

Google for Education Resources

Android for Education Resources

On device apps/software vs. web apps - which is better for schools?

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New Chromebook, Chromebox and updated Chrome OS - look awesome, great for education

Google and Samsung have just announced a new Chromebook, the Chromebox and the new version of Google's Chrome OS.

I have been a long time user of Google's Chrome OS and Chromebook (almost two years) on their beta device, the CR-48. I love it! I can do everything I need on it.

Chromebooks run Google's Chrome OS which is based on the Chrome web browser. They are fast, easy to use, secure (not data on device) and run all of Google's apps, along with thousands of third party apps. They are really great for schools because of the long battery life and the fact that nothing is stored on the device and there is no school IT support needed.

The new Chromebook from Samsung is fast, portable and easy to use. The Chromebox is a compact desktop device that is very powerful. They both have Intel Core processors and are 3 times as fast as the first-generation Chromebooks (which are very fast and boot in seconds). They include hardware accelerated graphics, multi-touch trackpad, and boot in less than 7 seconds. The Chromebook allows you to multi-task easily. I've used my beta CR-48 with 20 tabs open running lots of apps without a problem and these new devices are much more powerful.

Old Interface:

       

New Interface

The new version of Chrome OS also has a new user interface. The old interface looked like the Chrome browser and the new app window. The new interface looks more like a typical desktop OS interface, with a taskbar at the bottom. You can easily find and launch apps, and multi-task with apps and the browser window or use full screen mode.

Chrome OS includes the ability to view MS Office files (.doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx) and .zip, .rar, .txt, .pdf, .html, and most video, audio and image files. You can access all of your Google apps and your files on Google Drive (along with other cloud storage services),

Google is also rolling out Google Docs OFFLINE support in the next few weeks (yeah!). You can work on your files while offline and they will sync as soon as you connect to the internet. There are also offline capable web apps available in the Chrome Web Store. There are tons of apps for work and play.

Another great new feature is the Chrome Remote Desktop Beta. With this you can connect to your PC or Mac from your Chromebook or Chromebox and use your files and apps just as if you were sitting in front of your computer (similar to SplashTop Remote Desktop.). This can be used with Chrome OS or in the Chrome Browser.

The other major benefit of Chromebooks is that they are constantly, and automatically, being upgraded with new features and improvements.

There was one limitation to the Chromebooks - I could run a couple of Java apps I needed for school. That is no longer a problem with InstallFree Nexus and Rndr - free apps that add a ton of functionality to the Chrombooks. Read my review of them here: http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/update-on-installfree-nexus-and-rndr.html

I really love my CR-48 Chromebook and can only imagine the experience this new device will provide. the Chromebook is a great laptop - light, powerful, with a long battery life. The Chromebox would be a great replacement for desktop computers also. 99% of what I do is online, so a device like a Chromebook works great for me. I use Google's apps, Evernote, and Tweetdeck for most of my daily work. My Chromebook is my go to portable device, along with my smartphone. I really believe that a Chromebook is the best device for education. They are lightweight, have long battery lives, and require no support. They are easy to use and fast and there is no data stored on the device. They update automatically and there is no need for software or OS licensing.

If you or your school are looking for a new device, I highly recommend the Chromebooks.

Starting yesterday, you can get the new Chromebook and Chromebox from the online retail partners in the U.S. and U.K., and in other select countries over the coming weeks. The Series 5 Chromebook starts at $449.99 and the Chromebox is $329.99 with Education pricing available.

Here's a great video about Chrome OS and Chromebooks:




I did NOT receive any compensation for this post. I just really like Chrome OS and the Chromebooks.






Source: Official Google Blog

Related:

Google Chromebooks and Chrome OS revisited - great for education

Update on InstallFree Nexus and Rndr - work great on a Chromebook!

Google for Education Resources

Google Chromebooks for Education - updated pricing and info

Google Chromebook homepage

Google Chrome OS - great idea for education!

iPads, Chromebooks, on-device apps, cloud apps - great discussions

Google Chrome OS and CR-48 notebook review and 1st impressions

Google Chrome OS CR-48 coming in real handy lately

Read more

Update on InstallFree Nexus and Rndr - work great on a Chromebook!

Earlier today I wrote about InstallFree Nexus and Rndr, apps that allow you to use other apps, like LibreOffice and Java, on any device. Here's the full article: http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/installfree-nexus-us-ms-office-or.html

I've been using them all day on my CR-48 Chromebook and they work great! The biggest thing that I was not able to do on my Chromebook was accessing our Gradebook system, which runs on Java. Using Rndr, I was able to access it and use it on the Chromebook. It's not as speedy as on a Windows device, but not bad at all, and the company making Rndr tells me that there are some performance improvements coming shortly.

You can also use their apps to use LibreOffice (or MS Office) in the cloud on any device, including iOS, Android and Chrome. I was using the LibreOffice version and I was able to open up, view and edit LibreOffice and MS Office files directly from my Google Drive without needing to convert them to Google Docs formats.

All-in-all, these apps are a great resource for anyone, especially those using Chromebooks.

Check out my full review here: http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/installfree-nexus-us-ms-office-or.html


Related:

Google Chromebooks and Chrome OS revisited - great for education
iPads, Chromebooks, on-device apps, cloud apps - great discussions

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Google Chromebooks and Chrome OS revisited - great for education

I am a huge user of Google's many apps and resources. I also was lucky enough to receive a CR-48 Chromebook from Google to use and review. I really love how it works and think Chromebooks are an excellent idea for education. There is no support needed, nothing to install, it updates on it's own and you can do everything on it. All you need is an internet connection. Considering most people do everything online with web apps anyway, that's not a big deal. You can also have different user accounts and no data is stored on the device, making it great for sharing among students. The battery lasts a long time too. With all of the free web apps that exist, there is no need to license software either.

One issue that I did have was that I couldn't run Java apps so I couldn't run our gradebook software (from PowerTeacher). I just reviewed a new, free, app for Chrome called Rndr, that allows you to use Java apps on any device. I was able to use the gradebook on my Chromebook and now there is nothing I can't do with it.

They are becoming more popular and widespread and a great option for schools.


Here is a great video on what Chrome OS is:





Related:


Google Chromebooks for Education - updated pricing and info

Google Chromebook homepage

Google Chrome OS - great idea for education!

iPads, Chromebooks, on-device apps, cloud apps - great discussions

Google Chrome OS and CR-48 notebook review and 1st impressions

Google Chrome OS CR-48 coming in real handy lately

Read more

InstallFree Nexus - us MS Office or LibreOffice on any device through the cloud

InstallFree Nexus is an application I just learned about that allows you to use different applications on any device you want, while optimizing for that device. You can use Microsoft Office or LibreOffice on an iPad, Android Tablet, Chromebook or any device with a web browser. You can view and edit documents that you have stored in Dropbox, Google Drive, Office 365 and others and even access web apps that are written in Flash, Silverlight or Java. InstallFree Nexus makes it possible to use rich web applications written in Flash, Silverlight and Java on any device. All you need is a browser.



It's cloud based platform that allows you real-time access to these apps. It uses HTML 4 and 5 to work.

It is currently in public beta and will be going to full production this summer. There will be free and paid versions. 

The free version will be called InstallFree Nexus Basic and will include the following functionality:

• The full LibreOffice application suite for creating and editing documents from any device or browser.
• Full-fidelity viewing for Microsoft Office documents.
• Seamless integration with Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, SharePoint, Office 365 and other storage services.

The paid version will be called InstallFree Nexus Premium and will include the following functionality:

• All the capabilities available in Nexus Basic
• Microsoft Office 2010 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Publisher) subscription license:
• $4.99 per month / $49.99 per year for academic users (students, teachers, etc.)
• $19.99 per month / $199.99 per year for standard users

This is a very useful application that schools could use to make it easier for students and faculty to use certain applications. This makes things platform/OS agnostic and would allow everyone access to these apps and resources and would be especially useful in a BYOT/BYOD environment. It would also eliminate the need to install certain applications on devices. LibreOffice is an excellent free app that does everything that MS Office does. With LibreOffice and InstallFree Nexus, schools can eliminate the need for Microsoft Office licenses. 

Rndr enables any browser to render plugins like Java that may not be compatible with the device. This is very useful for the Chromebooks. 

Take a look:  http://www.installfree.com/ 

All of there products are available in the Chrome Web Store at the following links:
- Nexus with Microsoft Office: http://goo.gl/grC0j
- Nexus with LibreOffice: http://goo.gl/zmttd
- Rndr: http://goo.gl/SkqRC

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